Facebook Acquires Facial-Image-Analysis Firm FacioMetrics

Facebook is focusing on the face with its latest acquisition, facial-image-analysis outfit FacioMetrics.

Facebook is focusing on the face with its latest acquisition, facial-image-analysis outfit FacioMetrics.

The company was hatched at Carnegie Mellon University, and it released an application that detected emotions in people’s faces, IntraFace, which is no longer available via app stores.

FacioMetrics founder and CEO Fernando De la Torre announced the acquisition on the company’s homepage:

We started FacioMetrics to respond to the increasing interest and demand for facial-image analysis–with all kinds of applications including augmented/virtual reality, animation, audience reaction measurement and others. We began our research at Carnegie Mellon University developing state-of-the-art computer vision and machine-learning algorithms for facial image analysis. Over time, we have successfully developed and integrated this cutting-edge technology into battery-friendly and efficient mobile applications, and also created new applications of this technology.

Now, we’re taking a big step forward by joining the team at Facebook, where we’ll be able to advance our work at an incredible scale, reaching people from across the globe. We are thrilled for our next big step forward by joining Facebook. We’d like to thank Carnegie Mellon University and our clients for their trust and support–we couldn’t have made it this far without them.

How people share and communicate is changing, and things like masks and other effects allow people to express themselves in fun and creative ways. We’re excited to welcome the FacioMetrics team, who will help bring more fun effects to photos and videos and build even more engaging sharing experiences on Facebook.

Readers: What else do you think Facebook has in mind for FacioMetrics?